Wednesday, 9 November 2016

A new piece, finished yesterday, and the most challenging yet. I have been pondering how to tackle a fragmenting leaf structure for a long time and was now able to get on with it. I'd finally found the right coloured threads and so with my 3d head on I devised a reverse cordonnet system to recreate this leaf.

What fascinates me is how leaves slowly break down and become something completely different. The title references the idea in archaeology of 'taphonomy' (all that is left behind) where we find artefacts with very little context and have to build a world around them.If someone had never seen a tree and you showed them a dead leaf like this what would they imagine and could they ever understand all that a tree is and does from this one fragment? I find myself exploring more and more the idea of empathy with things unknown and how to find a language to speak to them.

some 'in progress' pictures...

As you can see from the image above I started with a very unconventional cordonnet, in fact it was a drawing rather than the usual outline.I put in a wire vein structure onto the drawing and then went from there.Technically it is almost impossible to say how I made this but here is a list of techniques for those who are interested;
detached buttonhole stitch ,picot stitch, fanned corded brussels stitch, needle chains and scissor knots.